EA has updated its list of Service Updates, revealing multiplayer servers that are hitting end-of-life (thanks Polygon). They say such decisions are never easy, explaining: "We would rather our hard-working engineering and IT staff focus on keeping a positive experience for the other 99% of customers playing our more popular games. We hope you have gotten many hours of enjoyment out of the games and we appreciate your ongoing patronage." They also announce a change for their free-to-play games, saying they will all begin using the same virtual currency called "Play4Free Funds," a name which may strike users as ironic when they pay for them. There are only a few PC titles impacted: The Sims 2 for PC/MAC and TheSims2.com will shut down on January 14, FIFA Soccer 11 for PC and consoles will conclude on January 11, and FIFA Manager 11 for PC ends on January 3.

NetHead wrote on Dec 31, 2012, 12:06:It is not a technical necessity, it's not to fight piracy, it's not to add value or features. It's about control so they can pull the game out from under customers now entirely forcing them to fork out for the new version if they want to keep playing.

1) I'm not sure that many people are actually playing 2 year old sports games online.

2) One of the sports games getting shut down is the newest version, so I don't know what game the evil masterminds want the players to buy.